Аннотация:The article is devoted to the competitiveness analysis of Russian institutions of higher educationin international and local markets. The methodology of research is based on generalized modifiedprincipal component analysis. Principal components analysis has proven its efficiency in businessperformance assessment. We apply a modification of this methodology to construction of anaggregate index of university performance. The whole set of principal components with weightingcoefficients equal to the proportions of the corresponding explained variance are utilized as anaggregate measure of various aspects of higher education. This methodology allows to reveal thefactors which exert positive or negative influence on university competitiveness. We construct akind of objective ranking of universities in order to estimate the current situation and prospects ofhigher education in Russia. It is applicable for evaluation of public policy in higher education,which, by inertia, aims to promote competition rather than cooperation among universities.